CHAPTER 3

WiSER Leadership Competencies

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, she doesn’t have what it takes. They will say, women don’t have what it takes.

—Clare Boothe Luce

Being an expat feeds my sense of adventure and my sense of always wanting to challenge myself, to see how far I can push myself.

—Wiser Fiona

To reach strong performance in an expatriate role, it is important to understand and master global leadership competencies. Competencies are a combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities, demonstrated through observable and measurable behavior. Global leadership competencies are commonly categorized as leading the organization, leading self and leading others, and will elevate global leadership capabilities.

Future leaders can better prepare for global roles by understanding who they are, how they work with others, and how other cultures prefer to work with them. By understanding key competencies for success in an international role, men and women can achieve the same high level of performance in a new country.

When considering global leadership competency models, bear in mind that they have been developed with a sample set consisting primarily of men, who are the majority of expatriates. Global leadership competencies differ from general leadership competencies because of the added complexity of different countries and cultures involved. Despite the fact that expatriate assignments typically range between three to five times the cost of a comparable local employee, there is often a lack of clarity regarding the competencies for success. Fortunately, global leadership competencies can be coached and developed. As leaders in international roles cultivate competencies for success, it is important to note that it is equally important to remain an authentic leader. As WiSER Ayesha explained: “I am a woman. I am a professional. I am myself. … Just be yourself, and you know what, half the battle is won.” Developing global leadership competencies is the remaining half of the battle!

Harvard Business Review published prevalent global leadership competencies, divided into five dominant themes, that are valid both for men and women (Giles 2016).

Demonstrates Strong Ethics and Provides a Sense of Safety

This theme is all about creating a safe and trusting environment by leading with high ethical standards, commitment to fairness, and trustworthiness by following through and clearly communicating expectations.

Empowers Others to Self-Organize

This theme describes how effective leaders provide clear direction, and enable individuals to take action, control their work, and make decisions autonomously. They trust and support individuals to work independently.

Shows Openness to New Ideas and Fosters Organizational Learning

This theme notes that strong leaders are flexible to new ideas and opinions, and foster life-long learning.

Nurtures Growth

This theme focuses on leaders committing to training, coaching, and developing the next-generation of leaders.

Fosters a Sense of Connection and Belonging

This theme highlights our human need to have interpersonal connections and a strong sense of team.

These global leadership competencies are important for both men and women to develop and master in order to be successful in a global role. However, they will only get women in expatriate roles so far, because female expatriate leaders are in a unique position compared to both the female domestic leader and the male expatriate leader (Figure 3.1).

Figure 3.1 Building blocks to female expatriate leadership excellence

Our groundbreaking research has uncovered that there are four additional competencies that are shared among WiSER!

• Self-awareness: Knowing your strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes—which are all based on your values—and using this knowledge to make critical decisions
• Conscious Imbalance: Tipping the scales toward what gives you energy and fulfillment with the realization that the scales will need to be rebalanced on a regular basis
• Active Career Management: Knowing what you want from your career and working with intention to achieve those goals
• Operating Outside Your Comfort Zone: Embracing ­challenges coming from new experiences by tolerating ­ambiguity and remaining calm

We will take you on in-depth exploration of these competencies in Chapters 4 through 7.

Why Female Expatriate Leaders Are in a Unique Position

Among the women we interviewed, we discerned tremendous differences, and found some striking similarities. The data we consolidated demonstrates that there is a correlation among WiSER as a sample group, therefore the WiSER are spread across a single bell curve relative to each competency. The bell curve for WiSER competencies is different than the bell curve for domestic female leaders or the bell curve for expatriate male leaders (Figure 3.2). Let us illustrate our point by asking you a simple question. “Do you work hard?” Your answer may be “yes” or “no”—it is not all that important. The real question is, “How do you know?” You probably know because you have compared yourself to other people: colleagues, friends, and acquaintances. However, each culture has its own criteria for what constitutes “hard work.” In Germany, for instance working 50 hours a week is considered working hard; whereas in Japan the standards increase considerably and working 80 hours a week is considered to be working hard. In fact, there is even a Japanese term, “karoshi,” that roughly translates to “work yourself to death.”

Figure 3.2 Bell curve average working hours per week for Germany and Japan

Note: the hours used are not based on statistical data.

The workers in Germany are scattered across a single bell curve whereas the Japanese are scattered across a separate, parallel bell curve. Although both bell curves plot the answer to the “do you work hard?” question, it would be inaccurate to plot them all on a single bell curve. In the same way, when comparing WiSER competencies, we have essentially separate, parallel bell curves, or norms when comparing expatriate women to expatriate men and domestic women (Figure 3.3).

Figure 3.3 The expatriate female leader

A good example of accomplishing the same feat while facing different challenges is that of the first person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Many mistakenly credit only Sir Edmund Hillary for this accomplishment. The first ascent was actually completed in 1953 by both Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Edmund Hillary is commonly recognized whereas Tenzing Norgay is obscure. He was the Sherpa who accompanied Hillary. Sherpas have been recognized for their strength and climbing capabilities since the time European mountaineers first arrived and employed their services as guides and porters. Norgay carried the climbing supplies, served as the navigator, set up camps, and had the natural ability of the Sherpa people. Hillary was unfamiliar with this terrain, had formally prepared by climbing various mountains in different countries around the world, and had to rely on the guidance of another. We can assume that either of these men would describe their climb to the top as extremely difficult and rewarding.

Expatriate Female Leader versus Domestic Female Leader

While women in leadership positions encounter barriers in their home country, this is further compounded because they also have to overcome barriers in their host countries (Tung 2005). Additionally, frequently cited challenges for working women include the double “burden syndrome” and the “anytime, anywhere” performance model. The “double burden” syndrome, means that women are responsible for work and the majority of the household responsibilities. A recent study found that, with some variations per nation, working women do almost 40 ­percent more household chores than men with some variability by nation (Independent 2017). Additionally, the “anytime, anywhere” performance model calls for top managers to make themselves available with great agility ­(McKinsey 2010, 6). The interrelationship between these two challenges has a compounding effect. The fact that “employees on international assignments report working an average of 13.4 more hours per week compared to the number of hours they work at the home location” (Shortland 2007), ­further magnifies these demands. Because an expatriate environment exacerbates domestic challenges 10-fold, global female leaders face unique challenges.

Expatriate Female Leader versus Expatriate Male Leader

Do male expatriate counterparts not possess or need to demonstrate WiSER competencies? In German the answer would be “jein” (a combination of yes and no). Yes, male expatriates do need to actively manage their career and they do need to be self-aware. They will face balancing and rebalancing their priorities and they also will need to be able to operate outside of their comfort zone. However, for men the circumstances and challenges are simply different than for women. Female expatriates are still pioneering in these roles whereas male expatriates are the “standard.”

A level playing field is a situation in which everyone has the same chance of succeeding. In business, both men and women have to play the game by the same rules, in the same field, with the same referees so to speak. When the “game” of business was created by men, for men, with male referees, it is disadvantageous to women who want to play. Sociologists refer to this as “male advantaging,” we call it an “un-level” playing field.

The powerful effects of implicit bias and lack of trust and psychological safety are leading factors contributing to this bell curve. In expatriate roles, these factors are further exaggerated.

Implicit Bias

Research continues to demonstrate that gender diversity leads to ­better organizational performance: it makes us more creative, diligent, and hard-working. However, biases, whether they be conscious or implicit, increase challenges that women expatriates face once in an international role, especially an international leadership role.

First, traditional societal expectations, which vary across nations and cultures, enhance the challenges expatriate women face. Although progress has been made, the traditional view regarding a man’s and a woman’s role in the family and at work remains deeply entrenched: men work, and women take care of the home and the children.

Both women and men have a range of career choices, which may include working full-time or part-time, consulting, or staying at home. Nevertheless, we do not see an abundance of either female executives or stay-at-home dads. In most cultures, it is generally accepted that women with children can work. However, people don’t know how to react when a woman is the primary breadwinner of a family, while her husband is the stay-at-home dad. Luckily, WiSER are changing societal expectations, one step at a time. WiSER Alicia described the ways in which such social and cultural expectations affected the dynamic of her and her husband’s roles within her own family. “My husband … was expected to be the breadwinner of the family,” she said. “[For the] wife, it was okay to have a job, but not a high career job. So, it was a lot of social pressure to be just the opposite of that situation and we also had to shift our families’ social, cultural expectations.” WiSER Sezin shared with us the traditional expectations concerning women in her country. “I’m from the modern Turkey,” she said. “But still, traditionally, we do expect … women to do so much more in a household … My mom was always angry with me that I wouldn’t be cooking for my daughter the type of food that she would be cooking for me … and that I would prefer to have somebody else make it for her.” Societal expectations get even trickier when ­expatriating. In addition to meeting domestic societal expectations, expatriate female leaders face societal expectations of the host country and the expatriate community.

Second, implicit biases held by others can require women to prove themselves more than men. “It’s always different when you are a woman,” WiSER Esther said. “The challenge for you as a leader … is to demonstrate that it does not make a big difference.” She added, “It’s not that you are going to behave like a man. I have never behaved like a male leader, but at the same time, the challenge was to show that women are just as efficient as men in carrying out their task.”

Third, when teams are comprised of both men and women, others may believe they are less effective because they often have what appears to be non-productive conflicts and a lengthier storming, norming, to performing cycle. In reality, conflict is not necessarily a sign that things are going wrong or that they can’t be resolved. Rather, the team is working through broadly differing information, perspectives, and worldviews that in the end results in innovation, better problem solving, and accurate decision-making (Phillips 2016). Diverse teams should celebrate their outcomes and make sure that those evaluating them know about the successes. Conscious or unconscious biases about gender diverse groups can undermine the very benefits of diversity.

Lack of Trust and Psychological Safety

“Psychological safety,” a term introduced by Harvard Business School Professor Amy Edmondson, is “a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking” (Edmondson 2014). The number one trait that was shared among Google’s most successful teams is psychological safety (Lebowitz 2015). In a safe environment, employees can be engaged, express themselves freely, take risks and experiment, without the fear of failure or retribution. They tend to be more relaxed, which allows for higher thinking and greater capacity for social engagement, innovation, creativity, and ambition. Research has shown that just 3 in 10 U.S. employees strongly agree that their opinions seem to count at work and feel they can express themselves without the fear of failure or retribution. Among diverse populations, this number is undoubtedly lower. However, if that ratio were to increase to 6 in 10, turnover in organizations could be reduced by 27 percent, safety incidents by 40 percent, productivity increased by 12 percent (Herway 2017).

Psychological safety is a broader notion than trust and includes caring and trusting one another and respecting each other’s capabilities. Where psych safety is something that is felt within a group, trust begins one on one, in relationships. Notably, trust is significantly lower now than a generation ago, with only 49 percent of employees trusting senior management and only 28 percent believing that CEOs are a credible source of information (Covey). When trust is low, it places a hidden “tax” on every transaction: every communication, every interaction, every strategy, every decision is taxed, bringing speed down and sending costs up. Trust is foundational to change, and it is essential to dismantling barriers stopping women from moving into leadership roles. Trust cultivates diversity. It also happens to be the foundation of good leadership! For WiSER Diane, the establishment of trust is a foundational piece in building effective leadership. Now that she is a leader herself, she gives her people the same amount of trust and operating space she received early in her career:

I had feedback from my staff … it was quite a unique experience for them working for me, because I absolutely focused on how I could really develop them into spaces that they probably never thought of going before. Many of them said to me that it was the first time that they had ever had somebody going for that amount of trust in their ability to do or to demonstrate or to perform in an area where they hadn’t demonstrated success [yet].

Strong leaders understand how to build trust in relationships and psychological safety in teams to best employ the talents of people and allow them to take risks and make mistakes. As mentioned earlier, most successes derive from failures and it is counterproductive to view mistakes as a negative thing. Schoemaker goes as far as to recommend that global organizations plan and promote mistakes in order to improve learning and move on to the next level (Schoemaker 2011).

Trust + Risk-taking + Evaluation = (Tremendous) Growth

Research shows that women who make mistakes in traditionally male occupations are judged much more harshly than their male counterparts who make mistakes (Huston 2016). Regardless of occupation, “women’s mistakes tend to be given more weight and remembered longer than men’s” (Williams 2014). Therefore, risk taking is not as simple as it may seem for women. As one of the few—or maybe even the first—expatriate women in an executive position in the host country, her actions will be closely monitored by many people. This is not necessarily because she is a foreigner, but it is more likely because she is a female foreigner. WiSER Elsa L. noted that she was the first female head of her organization in Paraguay, and therefore, she experienced what it was like to be a successful woman in a machismo society. “[It] was like big news,” she recalled. “I mean the newspapers came out … to interview me … because people were surprised.” She added that, to some extent, she became a victim of her own celebrity. “There was nowhere that I could go that I was not—I mean even the supermarket—that I was not the director general of the [organization].” She stressed that there was a real need for caution and prudence, given that people were observing her every move. “You have to be a little careful of what you say and the opinions you give, because then you find yourself being quoted, sometimes misquoted,” she said. The good news is, having such a high visibility also puts you in a position where you can be very influential and achieve many great things.

As we said, you are likely to stand out—not only in the host country, but also in your organization. You are an example: a role model for other women within the organization, in the country, and perhaps even in the world. If you make a mistake—or worse yet, if you fail—the consequences of your misstep will move beyond the organizational effect. When she was in Peru, WiSER Julie Anne had a female colleague who left the country after having been there for only three days. “It was the worst thing ever,” she remembered, “It’s such an insult to the country … If you are lucky enough to get one of these assignments, you better stick it out, because you ruin it for other women if you’re not able to stick it out.” Although there is great pressure involved in being a role model, not many of us have such an opportunity.

Women tend to dwell on all the things they can’t do well, but hardly take time to think about all their strengths. The key to success lies in leveraging your strengths to confidently take calculated risks. Learn to view a mistake as a learning experience that leads to growth. Overcome the tendency to focus all of your attention on the risk associated with a new initiative, venture, or investment. Rather, balance your view of risk with excitement about the potential reward. Not only should you allow yourself to make mistakes, but you should also forgive yourself in advance. You are in an intense and entirely new situation. As WiSER Martha told us: “… I think [you should] just go for it and be willing to make mistakes and to acknowledge those mistakes.” The key to dealing with mistakes is to manage them. Inform the appropriate parties when a mistake is likely to affect them, take steps to remedy the error, ask for assistance to “fix it,” and finally, learn from your mistakes. They will undoubtedly lead to good things.

Business success is correlated with risk-taking. Therefore, it is important for women to fight the tendency to focus all of the attention on the risk associated with a new role, initiative, venture, or investment. At the same time, it is important for organizations to foster an environment of both trust and psychological safety where leaders encourage employees to take risks and learn from mistakes. With mistakes come key learnings, more experience, and growth.

Developing Competencies

Many global leadership skills can be acquired or enhanced with relative ease. Competencies, however, are much more difficult to master, because they are a combination of knowledge, skills, and abilities which are exhibited in behavior patterns. After coaching hundreds of professionals over many years in many countries, we know that entrenched behavior is difficult to change yet doable (Figure 3.4). Neuroscience research continues to show that the human brain is highly pliable. The brain is always forming new connections, forming and reforming them, allowing new behaviors to be learned. “This process of neuroplasticity happens thousands of times a day, giving us enormous potential to change if we put awareness, effort and commitment into making it happen” ­(Langley 2012). Download the Women Leaders Toolkit from the BEP Publishing website for additional tools and resources.

Figure 3.4 Changeability of behavior

Source: HBR essentials: coaching and mentoring. Adapted from James Waldrop.

Self-discovery is a good starting point to develop competencies. We recommend women assess themselves against a standard set of global leadership competencies, and the WiSER competencies. Next, focus on enhancing a modest number of competencies that will be most beneficial to your expatriate assignment. There are four progressive stages to mastering competencies which will lead to success. Some competencies will be easier to develop than others because of where your own personal strengths lie. In the following chart, examples are provided to help visualize the different levels of competency development ranging from Phase 1 (lowest level of mastery) to Phase 4 (highest level of mastery) (Table 3.1, Adams 2018).

Table 3.1 Phases to develop competencies. Adapted from conscious competence model, Gordon Training International